Beach House - Reader Reports & Opinion
The Beach House, Castara 01 Sep 2006
Lorraine F from England
Hello
I'm currently planning a trip to Tobago next year (sometime between September – December 2007 – any suggestions on best months to visit?) and really like the look of The Beach House, Castara. How does this compare to Alibaba's Sea Breeze in similar location? Any suggestions?
Also any comments on sercurity at either accommodations?
Thanks
Lorraine 
The Beach House, Castara 22 Apr 2005
Jo Mills from London
There is one huge downside to Tobago – leaving!
What a wonderful, special, beautiful island – and the same can be said for the people. We stayed in Coconut Heights at the Beach House in Castara for our honeymoon. It was already dark when we arrived, so we drank our complimentary chilled champagne on the huge balcony, able to hear the waves crashing on the beach but see nothing of the view. It was wonderful waking up at 5am to see the Caribbean Sea directly in front of you through the mosquito nets! An experience we will never forget.
Porridge and Jeannel look after both the apartment and you during your stay and they couldn't be more friendly and helpful. All the local people are wonderful – we were even invited along to the school sport's day!
Marvin of Nature Boys Tours took us out on his boat for the most amazing 1 week anniversary trip. After snorkelling in Englishman's Bay, he then took us to No Man's Land where he filleted and barbecued superbly the tuna my husband caught along the way! Marvin produced an abundance of beautiful local food, beer, rum punch and even a lace table cloth for lunch before taking us out for a dip and a rum punch in the Nylon Pool.
We cannot recommend Tobago and especially Castara highly enough. Whilst I am sure the big resorts are lovely, there is no better way to go than to experience the local life in a small fishing village. What can beat watching Brenton arrive in on his boat in the morning and shout up to us that he had lobster for lunch that day if we would like some!
We cannot wait to go back and very much look forward to seeing all our new friends again.
The Beach House, Castara, May '04 06 Jul 2004
Ruth Marcantonio from Surrey
We spent 2 wonderful weeks in Tobago, returning at the end of May. We stayed in Castara and place really touched our hearts, so much so that we've started to arrange our wedding there for Feb '06.
We stayed at Mount Hay for the first 2 nights, which was a wonderful, secluded guest house, set on a hill not far from Black Rock. Went spent 2 days just walking about getting a feel for the place and was immediately charmed by the friendliness of everyone. We spent a night at Sunday School which is not to be missed and ate at Sashas stall which was fab.
On the Monday, we were collected by Porridge (a suberb guy) who took us to Castara. Ah the first view of the bay takes your breath away and then down you come into the village, everything so green and vibrant, the multi-coloured blues of the water glistening in the sun's rays.....
We stayed at the Beach House. A beautifully and sensitively built property right on the small beach, set amongst breadfruit trees. We had booked Coconut Heights which is the whole of the top floor, we had looked at the pictures many times on the website but nothing could compare to first seeing the view "WOW" was all we could both say. The balcony/living/dining is huge, with low slung comfy chairs and cushions, there are lamps and candle holders for evenings and a hammock you can hangout in, your are surrounded by mobiles, windchimes and birdfeeders the atmosphere is truly the most relaxing and chilled out I have ever experienced, like an indoor outside room. There are so many little touches, probably because the owners holiday here too. The kitchen is fantastically stocked and many a night one of the locals, Overload, Marvin or Oracle would come and cook the most delicious meals, caught fresh that day and we would spend the evening liming, those rum and cokes go down so easily!
The bedroom was cool and airy and we slept in a woodern four-poster bed which you could cover with a mosiquto net. We even had warm showers.
Porridge and Jenell look after the place and they are truly wonderful people as is everyone we met in Tobago.
We ate at Marguerettes which was lovely, fresh and tastey.
Overload took us on a boat trip and snorkelling to Englishmans bay, but the snorkelling in the Castara at the small beach never ceased to amazed us. The abundance of fish you can see just metres from the shore was always a delight. We saw a baby turtle, squid, barracuda and everyday we would see the stringray that feed in the bay an awesome sight, so graceful. We even had 2 dolphin visit us one morning.
We did hire a jeep for 3 days and drove through the spectacular rain forest along the mountain ridge. We stopped at Speyside to have lunch at Jemmas which was absolutely delicious, our most expensive meal (about $17 each). We actually found everything to be really reasonable in Tobago and had trouble spending our money. We visited Charlotteville and Pirates Bay which we had to ourselves.
Castara also has a lovely little waterfall which you can trek upto quite easily, we had the place to ourselves and the water was so fresh your skin tingled when you got out. Bliss!
We didn't have that great weather, more cloudy/rainy days than sunny. The dry season was very short this year and the rain had come early. And yes it would have been nice to have a few more sunny days but it really didn't matter we had such a fantastic time and a truly wonderful experience of a beautiful country.
And a big thank you to you guyz at mytobago, all your information was the best help I could have had in deciding to choose Castara the place was just perfect for us.
Castara Beach House
The Moorhead's
Post Recreated: Originally posted – 23 October 2002
The Moorhead´s Tobago 8-30 August 2002
We stayed 1 week in Buccoo, 1 week in Castara and 1 week back in Buccoo by popular vote. We are Freya, 14, Chloe,16, Giles, 18, and Janette & Mike.
Castara is classic hilly Caribbean country. Very local, very friendly but also pretty limited.
Castara Beach was not crowded, had beach bar that was only open in daytime and did not appear to be very busy. There was an active fish market. Castara beach has its main entrance off the coast road. The coast road rises to the North East of the beach on the way to Englishman´s Bay. The Castara Falls, across the road from the beach, across the playing field and up the river, were rather good for a fresh water dip. We were promised drumming on Friday nights but it did not materialise.
Heavenly Bay was small and, except for piles of rubbish at the entrance, lived up to its name as far as rocks, sand and fish were concerned. It was the best snorkelling we experienced including Buccoo reef. The two beaches are separated by a small headland. You can wade/swim between them easily. Either side of the headland there are two steep access roads, a second access to Castara Beach and the only access Heavenly Bay. The headland has 5 or 6 holiday houses on it. One of the houses right on the end of the headland has another very small beach with its own access. All the houses, except Beach House, seem to be run by the people at Blue Mango which is central on the headland. Bookings appear to be independent.
Beach House
This is right on the beach at Heavenly Bay. We were going to stay here but didn´t because the owner went on holiday to Devon just as we were about to book. It looked very good. A traditional wooden built house with fretwork screens. Seemed airy and spacious, better than the web photo suggested. We were looking for three bedrooms and this is what it has.
Mango House
Situated up the hill from the beaches, at the centre of the three roads, the coast road and the two access roads. It is built into the side of a steep hill just to one side of the headland about 200m from either beach. A house with many contrasts, not our best Tobago experience. The accommodation we were offered for 5 was, we thought at first, the whole house. A two bedroom apartment and a one bedroom studio connected to the apartment. We were then offered the rest of the house at an additional price at the last minute. This added another, downstairs, two bedroom apartment. We did a recce from Buccoo and decided that the initial offer was inadequate for 5 and insisted on the whole house, which we eventually got. In the event we narrowly avoided a disaster. The upstairs apartment had a pleasant double bedroom with a rather small double bed with baby space attached, hanging space, shelf but no drawers. The other “bedroom” was a passageway to the studio with no ventilation and no windows. There was no hanging space only a cupboard. There was a small double bed and a single bed leaving just enough floor space to walk across the foot of the double bed which was also the side of the single bed. There were two doors, one to the apartment and one to the studio with steps in the room. In our view, it was not useable as a bedroom other than for very small children. It should have had one single bed in it at most.
There was a bath room, which flooded through the shower drain when the washing machine was used, with a rather small basin. There was a reasonable kitchen area with oven and large fridge freezer but very short on utensils and crocks. The tap dripped monumentally throughout despite the attention of a plumber who replaced one shot washer with another shot washer and did not know how to regrind the seat. A new tap was going to be bought..... . The living area, adjacent to the kitchen area, had a sofa and 2 armchairs and opened onto a deck outside with a table and 5 chairs. This living space was OK for 4/5 but not spacious. By the front door was an outside shower, useful after the beach, and a washing machine that washed.
The definition of inside and outside is blurred because there were no complete walls, there were ventilation spaces above every wall and double doors from bedroom to sitting room and to deck; when all windows and doors were open it was all effectively outside. Birds moths etc flew in and out at will and when it rained that came in as well! From the deck there are views of the sunset over the sea through the trees but you are almost sitting in the road. In consequence we were an easy target for King David and his salesmen! There is also a fabulous mango tree opposite visited by parrots and other birds. The house is occupied by several small yellow birds that flit in and out most of the time and sleep in the trees overhanging the deck. We mended many of the wind chimes that are at every door. We were adopted by a dog who after a few days invited a mate to join him. On one occasion another dog arrived on the roof which is level with the main road above. The studio bedroom was a separate apartment for 2. It had hanging space, double bed and bathroom. There was a fridge, sink and some kitchenware but no kitchen as such. There was a lot of floor space and some huge shuttered windows and an upstairs gallery with a low roof. One could paint there, the view is mostly of trees.
The downstairs apartment was in better condition that the rest. This had a pleasant double room but a second very cramped room with two single beds had no floor space and a small window with a view into the hill a few feet from the window. Again it should have had one single bed. There was a small living area and a shaded terrace outside. Comfortable for 2/3.
Mosquitoes were vicious in spite of burning coils, spaying with jungle stuff and lotions. All beds had nets but most had seen better days would easily let in butterflies and moths.
The catering supplies on the welcome list were not provided, the bedding didn´t get changed as often as was said and it was difficult to keep clean without better brooms etc. By pooling equipment from all three apartments we had enough. The four slice toaster says it all, it toasted two slices on one side only!
Our peace was severely disrupted by tree clearing as a result of shorts on the local power lines. This removed some of the shade from the deck and our screen from the road. This was followed by strimming and cutting at 7am for three mornings which brought fresh waves of insects! Codrington Wallace´s bar 10m up the hill was quiet and good for a chat or drink supplies. The shop another 10m up the hill had daily bread deliveries and a few essentials but played music from 8am to 10pm which, being just above the Mango House roof meant we had to like whatever music they liked! The roti a further 100m up the hill went down very well.
To be continued ...
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